


Hold Me Tighter

by QuickSilverFox3



Series: Whumptober 2019 [20]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Trans Character, Cole (Dragon Age) Being Cole, Cuddling & Snuggling, Helpful Cole (Dragon Age), Human Cole (Dragon Age), M/M, Sharing a Bed, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 20:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21124661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickSilverFox3/pseuds/QuickSilverFox3
Summary: There's too many people to help, Cole is starting to come apart so goes to Krem for comfort.





	Hold Me Tighter

**Author's Note:**

> [ My Tumblr!](https://inkformyblood.tumblr.com) Requests are always welcome!  
Whumptober 2019 #20 Trembling

_Have to get this, don't forget to bring the sheets, don't forget, don't forget_

_Please Maker, please. Not him, not him._

_I can still feel her hands in mine. Have to keep drinking, drink, drink until she lets me sleep._

_So tired, can't sleep. Too many choices, oh Mythal, please._

"Cole?"

Krem's voice was rough with sleep. His hands, so much bigger than Cole's own, were so warm. Cole blinked and realised he had swayed into Krem's chest, the bindings he normally wore during the air taken off to sleep.

"I'm sorry," Cole said, and dimly realised he was trembling, teeth rattling in his skull. He hadn't asked, needed to remember to ask and he'd been doing so well. Sometimes Krem's sadness reached down into his very bones, and Cole never wanted to make that worse.

"I'm okay, I hugged you," Krem said.

Cole swayed back into the embrace, pushing his face into the warmth of Krem's neck, feeling the heat of his skin sink into his own. Human bodies were far stranger than Cole realised, a constant tightrope wobbling between too much and not enough and times it felt like he was drowning with the strangeness of it all.

"Do you want to come in?" Krem asked, waiting until Cole shakily nodded against him before helping him inside.

_They should have been back by now. Where are they?_

_Is he even still alive? Will the next time I return home be the time I find him dead?_

_What do I do now? Everything's gone, everything's gone._

Cole wrapped his arms tighter around Krem's waist, trying to stop the shaking.

He hated it, unable to stop the tremors wracking through him, head aching, eyes sore. Krem slept peacefully, arms wrapped around Cole's waist despite the chill coming from him, eyes twitching beneath his lids. He'd slipped under almost immediately, barely needing Cole's help.

He could see the faint smudge of purple beneath Krem's eyes and felt his heart twist in his chest, guilt flooding through him. Cole should go, shouldn't have woken Krem up when the other needed to sleep. But he was safe and warm here, able to relax backwards into the bed even if Cole couldn't sleep.

The shakes hurt. His bones ached, his head hurt, it was too much, too much. And everyone's hurts were so loud-!

_How could he? I'll kill him I swear it to Elgar'nan._

_It doesn't hurt that bad, just a slap, need to do a better job next time._

_My poor baby, he'll be so cold out there all alone. I need to find him, should go and get him._

_They were monsters, all red and oh Maker is that going to happen to me?_

_No more deaths I can't take anymore._

_Let me be free._

Cole brushed gentle trembling fingers against his tongue and inspected them, the tips stained red with his own blood. He hugged Krem closer, screwing his eyes shut against the unsteadiness of the room around him and waited, waited for the shaking to stop, waited for the sun to come up, waited for the onslaught of pain to end.


End file.
